House of Cuddies
by StillHaddicted
Summary: One shot, season 7: House and Cuddy are together, and in order to make their new relationship work House seems to spend some time on the phone with Cuddy's mom, so what would happen if they meet? (wrote before this actually happened on the show, it might looks a little bit outdated but hopefully worthy)


Rolling her eyes and sinking her face in her hands, suffocating there both a long sigh and an amused smile, Cuddy tried to ignore the loud singing coming from the bathroom and walked downstairs, speeding up when the knocking at the door repeated again.

She still had a wide smile on her face when she swung the door open, but it froze on her face like it had been iced by the chilly air when she found her mother standing in front of her with a suitcase in her hand.

"Oh…hi mom." she babbled, biking at her bottom lip the moment she realized her tone didn't sound enthusiastic at all.

"Hi Lisa." Her mom said back, way more cheerfully and with a large smile which didn't really help Cuddy recover the appropriate way.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, once again blaming herself for her choice of words and wondering if her assiduous frequentation with House might have something to do with that.

"Just come over for my niece birthday, as you suggested."

"Yeah but…"

"Hei Cuddy!" she was already regretting her "but" and for once House's yelling voice did come like a pleasant and unexpected salvation, at least he could somehow prevent her from sound anymore rude with her mom, but then he stepped in the hallway, wet, barefoot and half naked with a not so big towel wrapped around his waist "I get you like better to see me naked but mind to give me a bigger towel…oh. Hi Arlene."

Cuddy didn't know what shocked her the most, the fact he was walking around pouring water all over her floor, standing half naked in front of her mother or the natural smile he gave her as he waved one hand to her, not to mention the way he called her.

"Arlene?!" Cuddy repeated out loud, her mouth open and her eyes travelling from him to her mother, smiling warningly at him.

"Morning Dr. House."

"I guess it was…until now." He added in a low voice, by the way he looked at himself had Cuddy sighed relieved a little, at least he seemed to realize that wasn't exactly the best way to introduce himself…

"Oh don't demean yourself…" she heard Arlene say, Cuddy turned to her mom in pure astonishment and had a strange frowning reaction at her intrigued expression "…could have been worst."

"C'mon Cuddy, let the old lady in." House cheered from behind her, both shaking and shocking her who was still trying to digest the way her mother seemed to be enjoying the view of his naked chest "How rude of you! I'm sure she taught you better than this."

"I…come in mom, I…" she let the older lady in, then glared at him as she closed the door trying to get control back "House for God's sake, why don't you get dressed already?!"

"Yes shrieking master, I'm on my way." He answered quietly, then looked over at Arlene "Make yourself comfortable Arlene, I'll join you in a bit."

The woman nodded at him with a serene smile that once again gave Cuddy some weird shivers, still shaking her head totally appalled she preceded her mother in the kitchen to offer her a cup of coffee, trying to figure out when she had been dropped in a parallel universe with no warning. Apparently she wasn't good at it, and soon the frantic way she was handling mugs and coffee machine gave her away, of all the people hard to imagine her mother couldn't get the hints of her frustration.

"Lisa, are you ok?"

"OK?" she blurted turning toward her, questioning her as if she was the mother "Mom, what's going on here?!" she asked then, waging one hand to the hallway as to recall the little sketch they've been through.

"Apparently I just met your boyfriend." She answered innocently.

"No, I mean…Arlene?" Cuddy insisted, she was doing her best to hold back but it wasn't really easy "What was that about?"

"He's just being polite I guess." Arlene said again careless "He'd always been on the phone, every time he called..."

"Every time? Are you this used to have phone calls with him?"

"He's used to call me actually." She pointed out with a small shrug as it was nothing but normal "Thought he told you I was coming today."

HE KNEW?! Cuddy wanted to scream right in her face but she was afraid glasses couldn't have stood it, instead she handled her mom a cup of coffee and tried to relax. There was something good in that, there should have been right?

"I wasn't expecting you till tomorrow." She said then once the first sip of coffee had calmed her down a little, giving her mom a smile to let her understand despite the stupor she was glad to have her there.

"Thought a day more wouldn't have harmed. Was I wrong?"

"No, of course not. It's just…I could have come to the airport to pick you up, and the guest room…"

"Don't worry about that Lisa, it's not like I'm sleeping here."

"What? Of course you'll stay here." Cuddy insisted with a warming smile, frowning a little at her mom's expression.

"Is House sleeping here?"

"He…not always, sometimes yes…" she babbled, not really sure which answer her mom would have liked the most and even less of what the answer really was.

"Then I'll find a hotel, don't worry about that."

_Is she…was that a wink?!_ Cuddy thought with a light shiver, then shook herself and stated.

"No way mom, you're staying here. House can stay at his place for a couple of nights…"

"There's no need to kick him out because of me."

"I'm not…listen, there's no need to kick out anybody ok?" she huffed, that situation was getting crazier with every word and she was tired of that "There's room for all of us here…"

"Ok Lisa, there's no need to get all upset."

"I'm not upset. I'm…"

"Then mind stop yelling?" House begged as he stepped inside the kitchen he was wearing one of his classic jeans/t-shirt combo and Cuddy had to wonder where the hell he had pulled out that almost ironed black t-shirt "You're melting my ears."

"My mom is gonna stay here for the next days." Cuddy informed him purposively ignoring his mocking "Is that ok with you?"

"Mi casa es su casa." He muttered in a quite good Spanish, he sounded quite sincere but still Arlene tilted her head on one side curiously as he poured himself some coffee too under Cuddy's controlling gaze.

"I don't want to bother…"

"You're not mom, see?" Cuddy cut her off gently, silently thanking House for not giving her a hard time with that "I told you it wouldn't have been a problem."

"Well, since we're going to share the roof might as well introduce properly." House said then with a weird tone, then stepped toward Arlene and stretched his hand to her "Gregory House, nice to finally meet you Arlene."

If the older woman noticed her daughter's puzzled staring she decided she wasn't interested in it, she wasn't even sure what shocked her the most was her behave or House's one. What she knew was that if he, the rude and impolite man she had been told about, was up for a decent way to introduce herself she wouldn't have sure stepped back. Smiling, Arlene Cuddy stepped closer to the tall man of whom she had already seen more than enough and ignoring his hand offer she gave him a quick hug. The way House seemed to freeze at her bold approach gave Cuddy some sense of reality back, finally a not so confident reaction from him as she was used to, as it was supposed to be, but then world as she knew it was tossed around when House gave her mom a shy smile as Arlene pulled back and still offered to shake her hand.

"Glad to finally match a nice face to such a beautiful voice." The woman said softly, and Cuddy could swear House was close to blush.

"Easy there woman…" he said back in a low teasing voice as he pulled back his hand "I'm easy to flatter, and beside that I'm taken."

"So I've heard…" Arlene muttered enlarging her smile to him, giving it a light malicious tone of her own.

"Mom, you want me to take your luggage?"

Words rushed out of Cuddy's mouth, she was kind of hoping she could wake up and find out that weird event was nothing but a bad dream and she had to work hard to kick that image out of her mind. It was stupid and she knew it, she should have been glad her mom and House seemed to get along but that was way too much according to her taste and she needed a break the process the whole thing, one way or the other.

"Don't worry, I'll do it." Arlene said heading back the hallway where she had left the luggage "I'll stop to the bathroom too, and I hope to see my little princess soon."

Cuddy reassured her Rachel would have been up soon and that the girl would have been thrilled to see her, House added his two cents informing the older woman she could have also given him a taste of her famous handmade muffins if she felt like too and his little stunt did nothing but increase Cuddy's discomfort. In fact, once Arlene was out of the room and they were left alone House turned toward her, who looked nothing but please and instead quite threatening with her arms folded and the icy glare that made his coffee freeze in the mug.

"Ok, what was that about?" she asked straightforwardly, curiosity and anger perfectly balanced in her voice.

"Just trying to get along with the old lady." He shrugged defensively.

"Get along? You two are creeping me out!" Cuddy hissed, she wanted to yell but she didn't want her mom to hear "Arlene?! Why do you call her Arlene?!"

"Thought it was too soon for Mom," he muttered jokingly "besides I already call you Cuddy…that would be kind of confusing."

"And why does it look like you two have had endless conversation about me on the phone?!"

"Oh c'mon, don't flatter yourself that much." He blurted, he put the mug down and walked up to her engulfing her in his arms, he felt her tense but insisted kissing her cheek softly till she started to relax a little "We had long conversations about your family…you have interesting relatives."

"What?" she asked jolting out of his embrace, not reassured at all.

"You never told me about this great uncle of your holding the world Guinness of long distance spitting for two decades."

"Oh my God, what…" she shoot back, incredulous, then gave him her back and sunk her head in her shoulders, muttering defeated "All of sudden I'm not sure I want her to stay here anymore if you two has to get along like this."

"Fine by me…" he whispered in her ear embracing her from behind, his nose nuzzling her neck with a tender caress, his hands looking for hers.

"You just said you were ok." Cuddy pouted with a low voice, but she closed her eyes enjoying his efforts to have her relax, leaning back on him as his lightly kissed her neck a couple of times.

"Not like I have too much of a choice…" he stated, but no matter her efforts Cuddy didn't catch hints or regret or resentment in his words "…and I like her."

"It's my mom!" she remembered him vehemently, both relieved and pissed when he chuckled in her ear.

"Not like in that sense, you silly! I can see what your father saw in her though…" he added, then as Cuddy was about to protest he spun her around and grounded her against the counter, flashing her with a loving and mischievous gaze as he slowly leaned down on her, softly murmuring before his mouth met hers and his kiss suck away her tension "but I like the younger version better…"


End file.
